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tasmanian_bibliophile's review
4.0
‘Pulling the machete would only increase the length of his life so he could live with the knowledge of his certain death a little longer.’
In the prologue to ‘Infamy’, William Burr is wounded while hunting mahogany thieves in British Honduras. While recuperating, he receives a letter from his former employer, John McQuillan, who is now the chief magistrate of Hobart Town in Van Diemen’s Land. In this letter, Burr is invited to earn a reward:
‘ … One thousand acres of prime grazing pasture on the Coal River, Van Diemen's Land, if you want it. Reward from our old friend Lieutenant Governor Arthur (Colonel Holier Than Thou), who appears thwarted in his ability to capture an escaped felon.'
The escaped felon is Brown George Coyne, who has offered 20 gallons of rum for George Arthur’s arrest.
It is summer in 1830 when William Burr arrives in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land (now Hobart, Tasmania). This is the era of bloodshed, bushrangers and convicts, and of dispossession of the Aborigines as a consequence of pastoral expansion. It’s a place in which the European settlers try hard to replicate their memories of ‘Home’.
There are a number of key characters in this novel in addition to William Burr. Colonel Arthur himself has a significant role, as does the larger than life Brown George Coyne who lives with his followers in the mountains to the southwest. Coyne has discovered gold and with it considerable power. Other characters include police magistrate Stephen Vaughan and his wife Ellen, the ‘ship trader’ Charles Trentham, a mainland Aborigine – Robert Ringa - who they wanted to use to track down men for hanging, and Tilly Holt who works in Government House.
Just after Burr arrives, Ellen Vaughan is kidnapped, and he sets out to rescue her. The story unfolds over a few days, and Burr’s adventures are only part of the story. There is rebellion in Hobart Town, and plenty of violence as bushrangers, convicts, officials and settlers jostle for power.
Will William Burr be able to rescue Ellen Vaughan, and what will happen to Brown George Coyne? And the Aborigines? What is justice in this place?
I found it hard to put this novel down. ‘Infamy’ incorporates history into a fast-paced and riveting fictional colonial crime story. It is bushranger Matthew Brady (1799-1826) who posted a reward of 20 gallons of rum for Colonel Arthur, and references to the Black Line (1830) are a reminder of the shameful treatment of Tasmanian Aborigines. There are a significant number of characters representing different strata of colonial society and this could be confusing, but it isn’t. Each character has a part to play, and each part fits into Mr Bartulin’s portrayal of colonial Van Diemen’s Land. It’s a bloodthirsty world, but the violence never seems gratuitous. Sometimes tragic, often uncomfortable but not gratuitous.
‘The inevitable needs no map ...’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In the prologue to ‘Infamy’, William Burr is wounded while hunting mahogany thieves in British Honduras. While recuperating, he receives a letter from his former employer, John McQuillan, who is now the chief magistrate of Hobart Town in Van Diemen’s Land. In this letter, Burr is invited to earn a reward:
‘ … One thousand acres of prime grazing pasture on the Coal River, Van Diemen's Land, if you want it. Reward from our old friend Lieutenant Governor Arthur (Colonel Holier Than Thou), who appears thwarted in his ability to capture an escaped felon.'
The escaped felon is Brown George Coyne, who has offered 20 gallons of rum for George Arthur’s arrest.
It is summer in 1830 when William Burr arrives in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land (now Hobart, Tasmania). This is the era of bloodshed, bushrangers and convicts, and of dispossession of the Aborigines as a consequence of pastoral expansion. It’s a place in which the European settlers try hard to replicate their memories of ‘Home’.
There are a number of key characters in this novel in addition to William Burr. Colonel Arthur himself has a significant role, as does the larger than life Brown George Coyne who lives with his followers in the mountains to the southwest. Coyne has discovered gold and with it considerable power. Other characters include police magistrate Stephen Vaughan and his wife Ellen, the ‘ship trader’ Charles Trentham, a mainland Aborigine – Robert Ringa - who they wanted to use to track down men for hanging, and Tilly Holt who works in Government House.
Just after Burr arrives, Ellen Vaughan is kidnapped, and he sets out to rescue her. The story unfolds over a few days, and Burr’s adventures are only part of the story. There is rebellion in Hobart Town, and plenty of violence as bushrangers, convicts, officials and settlers jostle for power.
Will William Burr be able to rescue Ellen Vaughan, and what will happen to Brown George Coyne? And the Aborigines? What is justice in this place?
I found it hard to put this novel down. ‘Infamy’ incorporates history into a fast-paced and riveting fictional colonial crime story. It is bushranger Matthew Brady (1799-1826) who posted a reward of 20 gallons of rum for Colonel Arthur, and references to the Black Line (1830) are a reminder of the shameful treatment of Tasmanian Aborigines. There are a significant number of characters representing different strata of colonial society and this could be confusing, but it isn’t. Each character has a part to play, and each part fits into Mr Bartulin’s portrayal of colonial Van Diemen’s Land. It’s a bloodthirsty world, but the violence never seems gratuitous. Sometimes tragic, often uncomfortable but not gratuitous.
‘The inevitable needs no map ...’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
sarah1984's review
4.0
7/1 - A Tasmanian western set in 1830. This reads like historical fiction (where the main characters and/or main story is based in fact but the rest is from the author's imagination), but it's not. It's just fiction, but the way it's written makes it feel more sophisticated and genuine than I would have expected from a new writer. Except for it being Australian and on land it reminds me of Sean Thomas Russell's Under Enemy Colours, which is based, in part, on fact. I'll have to go look Mr Bartulin up and see who he is and where he's from. To be continued...
10/1 - Bartulin is indeed Australian and this isn't his first book, but it is his first historical/western - his previous books were crime novels. This isn't a run-of-the-mill fiction where the good guy survives after a near fatal battle and the bad guys gets what's coming to him, either physically or, if he doesn't die, he's shown up for what/who he really is. Don't even expect a particularly happy ending for the main characters - 1830s Tasmania (hell, the whole country) was a rough place and Bartulin doesn't gloss over the fact. Consider Deadwood or Hell on Wheels versus the 1950s westerns with Clint Eastwood, in Deadwood everyone was dirty, foul-mouthed and spent most of their time drinking, fighting or having sex and then they died (usually violently), but in a Clint Eastwood western there was some polite fisticuffs followed by a quiet drink and then he rode off into the sunset with a clean, well-dressed lady. Infamy is much more Deadwood than Clint Eastwood, and therefore much more realistic. Recommended to fans of westerns and Australians looking for realistic fiction about their own country.
10/1 - Bartulin is indeed Australian and this isn't his first book, but it is his first historical/western - his previous books were crime novels. This isn't a run-of-the-mill fiction where the good guy survives after a near fatal battle and the bad guys gets what's coming to him, either physically or, if he doesn't die, he's shown up for what/who he really is. Don't even expect a particularly happy ending for the main characters - 1830s Tasmania (hell, the whole country) was a rough place and Bartulin doesn't gloss over the fact. Consider Deadwood or Hell on Wheels versus the 1950s westerns with Clint Eastwood, in Deadwood everyone was dirty, foul-mouthed and spent most of their time drinking, fighting or having sex and then they died (usually violently), but in a Clint Eastwood western there was some polite fisticuffs followed by a quiet drink and then he rode off into the sunset with a clean, well-dressed lady. Infamy is much more Deadwood than Clint Eastwood, and therefore much more realistic. Recommended to fans of westerns and Australians looking for realistic fiction about their own country.
tien's review
4.0
This time it wasn’t the blurb or the cover which grabbed my attention but the author. I’ve read and enjoyed his previous works which were very different from this altogether. The Jack Susko books were mysteries set in Sydney which had a slight noir atmosphere but modern setting. Infamy is historical fiction set in the early settlement days of Australia, specifically in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). Being an immigrant myself, this kind of story (particularly in Australia) appeals to me.
The blurb of this book compares author & this work to other authors & works of which I am unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, this is a point which I can neither support nor disagree with. ‘A Steamy love story’, however, it is not. Well, at least not what I think of what ‘a steamy love story’ is supposed to be. There was attraction at first sight type of thing, a damsel in distress and a hero to rescue but there wasn’t really any sparks that you’d expect from a romance.
The book follows quite a number of characters which encompassed practically all strata of society and from which we can appreciate the story from all different point of views. We can see the story unfolds from the top ruling class to the convicts and the outcasts. The numerous lines of story could have been annoying but the flawless execution of switches between characters made the read smoothly chronological.
One thing that I dislike about historical fiction is how hard life was then and at times, how totally unfair. Whilst Infamy does not shy away from the hard stuff, it also wasn’t that graphic (at this point, I’m referring to violence against women & natives). Let’s just say, things could have been a lot worse but the ending was not in any way distressing as I’d expect from this kind of novel.
Quotes of interest:
‘To be,’ Coyne had said, ‘one must become.’
~the words of a madman
Wells dropped the back of his head to the ground now, lay there and draped an arm over his eyes, felt the cold earth come up into his body. Where the hell was he? Fucking a boy beneath these stars, drunk in this place that he still couldn’t believe was real, drunk and undoubtedly about to die. He remembered once being among kindnesses, some distant and by now frayed and faded love, though he’d never been sure it was his own memory to begin with. More likely it was something pilfered; there was nothing Marcus Wells had ever had in his life that wasn’t already somebody else’s first. Maybe he’d looked into a window from the street somewhere back in England, cold and hungry like he was, seen a fire glowing and a mother sewing, children at her feet and a father dozing in a chair beside. Took it as his own. Did it matter? Could anybody have begrudged him the thieving? Well, he supposed it didn’t matter anymore now. And they had, by God. Begrudged him.
~just utterly hopeless
Thanks to Allen & Unwin via The Reading Room for copy of book
The blurb of this book compares author & this work to other authors & works of which I am unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, this is a point which I can neither support nor disagree with. ‘A Steamy love story’, however, it is not. Well, at least not what I think of what ‘a steamy love story’ is supposed to be. There was attraction at first sight type of thing, a damsel in distress and a hero to rescue but there wasn’t really any sparks that you’d expect from a romance.
The book follows quite a number of characters which encompassed practically all strata of society and from which we can appreciate the story from all different point of views. We can see the story unfolds from the top ruling class to the convicts and the outcasts. The numerous lines of story could have been annoying but the flawless execution of switches between characters made the read smoothly chronological.
One thing that I dislike about historical fiction is how hard life was then and at times, how totally unfair. Whilst Infamy does not shy away from the hard stuff, it also wasn’t that graphic (at this point, I’m referring to violence against women & natives). Let’s just say, things could have been a lot worse but the ending was not in any way distressing as I’d expect from this kind of novel.
Quotes of interest:
‘To be,’ Coyne had said, ‘one must become.’
~the words of a madman
Wells dropped the back of his head to the ground now, lay there and draped an arm over his eyes, felt the cold earth come up into his body. Where the hell was he? Fucking a boy beneath these stars, drunk in this place that he still couldn’t believe was real, drunk and undoubtedly about to die. He remembered once being among kindnesses, some distant and by now frayed and faded love, though he’d never been sure it was his own memory to begin with. More likely it was something pilfered; there was nothing Marcus Wells had ever had in his life that wasn’t already somebody else’s first. Maybe he’d looked into a window from the street somewhere back in England, cold and hungry like he was, seen a fire glowing and a mother sewing, children at her feet and a father dozing in a chair beside. Took it as his own. Did it matter? Could anybody have begrudged him the thieving? Well, he supposed it didn’t matter anymore now. And they had, by God. Begrudged him.
~just utterly hopeless
Thanks to Allen & Unwin via The Reading Room for copy of book
devilstatedan's review
5.0
One of the best stories of this genre that I've happened across in a while! The story is totally engaging, the characters have depth & interest, & the setting is at once beautiful as it is frighteningly real. Highly recommended if you like "blokey" historical fiction & don't mind a bit of violence & betrayal.
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